VMware Workstation 7.0.1-227600 install freezes on Ubuntu 9.10 Kernel 2.6.31-19-generic-pae #56

[Twylo]

Canonical released an Ubuntu security update for the 2.6 kernel today that appears to have broken VMware Workstation.

I'm running 32-bit i386 Ubuntu 9.10 Desktop edition. After updating to the linux-image-2.6.31-19-generic-pae kernel (and rebooting, of course) this evening, I launched Workstation so it would rebuild its kernel modules. Instead, it hung while trying to shut down /etc/init.d/vmware. I discovered that I was also unable to manually run '/etc/init.d/vmware stop', it hung consistently while trying to stop the blocking filesystem.

At that point I uninstalled VMware fully following the manual uninstallation instructions for Linux hosts, and then rebooted and attempted to re-install.

Now the installation process hangs consistently during "Installing VMware Player Application 3.0.1" while it says "Configuring...". Multiple reboots and removing VMware files manually have not helped.

I suspect the 2.6.31-19 #56 update because nothing else has changed - I haven't installed any other software, and VMware Workstation was working fine yesterday. Has anybody else seen this? Can anyone else reproduce it?

[WoYaoPijiu]

Workstation 6.5

Ubuntu 9.10

Installed 2.6.31-19 #56 update and Workstation would not compile (Virtual Network Device) after a reboot. Went to many threads via Google and none helped. Uninstalled and reinstalled Workstation and now I am "Unable to build kernel module". Looking at the log file and the error that stands out is:

ERROR: modinfo: could not find module vmnet

Searched on this and ended up doing a continuous loop to threads previously visited with no solution working (patches, searching for vmware-config.pl (which does not exist), renaming/recompiling /usr/lib/vmware/modules/binary, etc)

This is a show-stopper for me because I use Windows XP in Unity mode for Outlook with mulitple .pst files. These are no longer accessable and my work has come to a grinding halt.

Help or suggestions would be appreciated.

[Sven_Burger]

I am getting the hang that you described - trying to install Workstation 6.5 on Ubuntu 9.10. Hangs when trying to configure VMware Player, then nothing. It finishes the install, but it never installs workstation.

Were you able to figure out the issue?

Sven

[Twylo]

Hello Sven,

I'm sorry I never came back and updated this thread, but yes I did figure out what was going on.

When I tried my installation, I had an external USB2.0-to-SATA hard drive attached to my computer. It was powered on, but I had unmounted it. The USB-to-SATA adapter was visible to the system as /dev/sdc, and Somehow, the staller was blocking on waiting for the /dev/sdc devices to become available. It would simply hang forever waiting for them.

To work around it, I had to physically unplug the adapter and wait for the Linux kernel to recognize that the device was uninstalled. Then the installation worked perfectly.

[Sven_Burger]

Ah -

You know what, I've got mine plugged in as well - that's probably it!

Thanks for chiming back in. In my searches this morning, I did find another thread with a fix, but it's on my other computer. I'll re-post it back here when I get it sorted out.

Sven